Verbing Weirds Language only if you're expecting it to work in a simple way. This is a special case of the more general truth that Language Weirds.

Only when a republic's life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is in the wrong. There is no other time.

The church says Earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence in a shadow than the church.

If we can't find Heaven, there are always bluejays.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Two worlds in the snow

Sort of snow, anyhow, though only the Post acknowledges it. The Times is, as usual, fixated on domestic troubles and old, desperately-clung-to scandals while the Post admits the rest of the world (though only GWOT-related countries) do exist...

Washington Post:
Pakistan plans military push in tribal area | Offensive against Taliban, others | Recent attack, sputtering peace talks spur mov
FDA panel debates idea of three-parent babies | Procedure aims to create embryos without inherited genetic defects
New pitch would make baseball's opener a holiday
In San Jose, retirement's haves and have-nots | Generous pensions for city workers are coming at the expense of nearly everything else
With pullout near, U.S. in fix over some detainees

The big picture is "A hazy shade of winter", featuring Canada geese flying though the snow. There's a big, below-the-fold photo of the San Jose mayor looking out over his city

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About Me

I used to teach Russian and Ukrainian, and some basic English, to civil servants. Now I teach Russian at a local continued-learning institute. I dabble in Gaelic and Welsh. I'm am amateur photographer and I love birding (in a small way). I'm a Progressive, and a Freethinker, and I know Evolution is a fact - that's FCD, Friend of Charles Darwin (look down the sidebar). I read a lot, and follow women's college basketball. Also I love astronomy, though I'm a rank amateur at it. Most of all, I like living in the reality-based community...

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You cannot leave. You cannot drop the armor now. Why? Because you are needed, more than ever. You are mandatory to keep the energy flowing, the karmic vibrator buzzing, to keep the progressive and lucid half of the nation breathing and healthy and awake and ever reaching out to the half that's wallowing in fear and violence and homophobia and sexual dread, hoping to find harmony instead of cacophony, common ground instead of civil war, some sort of a shared love of a country so messy and internationally disrespected and openly confused its own president can't even speak the language.

After all, you don't hand over all your children the first time the flying monkeys bang on your door...

It's far from over. The tunnel is just a little darker -- and longer -- than we imagined.
Mark Morford